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Conventions for Chinese-English Courses
1. General Most of the words and definitions in this wiki come from the excellentAdsotrans(http://www.popupchinese.com/tools/adso) database which is coordinated by the Popup Chinese team. On top of this we our users contribute "acceptable alternatives" - which are variations of the correct translation that should also be accepted as correct answers in typing test. For example 色 is translated as "color" (US spelling) with "colour" (UK spelling) added as an alternative. Any items that were not in the Adsotrans database can also be added as new items to the wiki. 2. Radicals a) radicals are added with their "radical" ie, their ancient meaning, first with "(radical)" written after the definition b) if the modern definition is different to the radical meaning, then this should be written after the radical definition. *e.g.: character: 又 definition: right hand (radical), again 3. Dependencies a) these are the items that should be learnt first before learning a particular word or character. For example the "depends on" items for 你好 are "你" and "好". b) for certain characters it is not 100% clear which building blocks are the correct "depends on" items. IN these case please leave comments on the characters so that this can be discussed. 4. Tones a) for simplicity of input as well as ease and accuracy of marking, the tones are denoted by numbers: 1 - high level tone 2 - rising tone 3 - down-up tone 4 - falling tone 5 - neutral tone 5. Phrases and short sentences The line between words and phrases is less clear for mandarin than it is for other languages. These are rough guidelines, decisions may need to be made on a case-by-case basis, so please feel free to comment on any items that you think should be edited or changed. a). For chengyu add "chengyu" as part of speech. For other phrases add "phrase" as part of speech. b). When adding phrases, it is useful to add similar, but different phrases at the same time, and to add them as "confusables" of each other. This will mean that the multiple choice tests for each sentence are made a bit harder. c) Keep the phrases short. Testing will be done by typing the whole phrase, so if there are other correct translations of the source language to the target language, add those as "alternative source Langage" 6. Parts of Speech a) The terms for "parts of speech" that should be used in this topic are: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, conjunction, interjection, phrase, chengyu, heavenly (for heavenly stems), radical b) Many Chinese words can be more than one part of speech. In this case the all, separated by semi colons. 7. Other a) words and characters for which the primary meaning is a verb should be given in the infinitive form, with just the verb on its own as an English alternative. b) characters whose primary use is as a surname should take the form "surname Name", with "Name" as an accepted alternative (and possibly "a surname" too). e.g. "薛 = surname Xue - alternative English = Xue" c) where words can be both verbs and nouns, add the verb form as the primary one. 'Source' http://www.memrise.com/thread/1292632/ Category:Conventions